Sasha -

Sasha, a sweet Arab mare, was a slaughter bound rescue that was saved by the wonderful efforts of Shirley Puga. She arrived, along with 4 Paiute Indian mares and foals. It appeared she had found her way onto the transport instead of the 5th Paiute mare. Regardless, we did our best to give her a few years of additional life. She had a blown knee, possibly from being over-ridden. We treated it daily with warm rubs and wraps and she did wonderful for the first 2 year, but as winter set in the 3rd year, she began to drop weight and favor her leg more, despite our efforts. Because of this we made the decision to say goodbye.

Good bye to our first wild horse sanctuary resident

Lady Spirit was born in 1995, and is from the Beaty's Butte HMA in southeastern Oregon - bordering Sheldon FWS. Assisting at an adoption, I found out that Lady was a Sale Authority mare due to her age. At the end of the adoption and no one showing interest, I bought her from the BLM, given instant title. I worked with her only to the point where I could handle her in an emergency and then promised that she would never have to do anything more. Lady took over as the lead mare and Jenkins life mate. RIP LADY.. We miss you.

Srigo - our oldest resident at 36

Srigo is happily running and grazing now that he's crossed the Rainbow Bridge on Easter Sunday, April 8th, 2012. At 36 years old he was our oldest resident and we miss him dearly. Full of life to the very end, Sr & Emma enjoyed a day of sunshine and grazing. That night he layed down to sleep and that's how we found him the next morning. Photo was taken the day before when he came to the gate to greet me for the morning like he always did.

Srigo and Emma found each other at our ranch and quickly bonded. They were mates for life. This has been extremely hard on Emma as she continues to search the pastures from time to time, nickering softly. Emma has now moved in to the Matriarch position among the domestics and Brian will come in from time to time for a grooming session with her. She is going through some awful depression and has slowly lost weight since Srigo's death. She gets her grain twice a day and all the hay she wants, but just isn't quite the same. Loss of a loved one is so hard - I don't care if you're an animal, human, or what. George has become her companion and she will frantically nicker when she can't see him. We are so grateful that George at least gives her some comfort.

Emma

25+ yr old Arab mareEmma was relinquished to WWER by her owner who was feeling hard times due to economic status. Emma had been used as a 4H horse and is now retired and is a permanent resident. She, along with Srigo, have raised Carson - our orphaned foal. After Srigo passed Emma went into a deep depression. She is slowly coming out of it. While having her examined for the depression it was discovered that she has a large melanoma on her neck. Discussion with the vet, we made the decision that it would cause more harm than not to have it removed at this time since it is benign. She does not show any signs of discomfort and there has been no change in the tumor . As long as she trots around, hangs with George & Pawnee, and is not in pain we will continue as we are.

WE HAD TO SAY GOODBYE TO EMMA IN THE WINTER, 2013, WHEN THE CANCER BEGAN TO BE A PROBLEM. RIP Old Girl. At least you're with Sr again.

Virginia (Ginny #20)

RIP MY SWEET GIRL

AUGUST 27, 2012

We found Ginny standing alone Saturday evening, not wanting to come in for dinner. Tom spent quite a bit of time guiding her off the hillside and into the single stall barn where she could be monitored. Just the look in her eyes told me she wouldn't be here long. We did our best to bed her down and I lied in the stall with her most of the night. We had already called Doc Hendy and was told to monitor her throughout the night and if she made it through he'd be out on Sunday to examine her the best he could, and probably have to put her down. Ginny, although completely unhandled, allowed me to brush her mane gently throughout the night - the absolute first time she had ever had that done.

I checked on her Sunday morning, after a couple hours sleep in my own bed, and she was still getting up & down and obviously in pain. Refusing to eat I couldn't give her any feed thru bute and felt completely helpless. Doc Hendy came out and we made the decision that it was our girl's time. As he was preparing the meds Ginny walked up to me and placed her head on my chest, as if trying to soothe my tears and tell me goodbye.

We've euthanized, or lost to natural causes, many animals throughout the years, but having her say goodbye and watching her take her last breath has been the hardest on me so far.

Ginny (Part of the Breakfast Club) along with Granny, is one of oldest of the fertility study mares from the Virginia Range in Nevada. Coming in extremely underweight, we worked all summer to do what we could to rehab her. In doing so, she & I developed a strong bond. She'd whinny every morning for her grain and hung out with me when I cleaned stalls. In July, 2012, Ginny began loosing her teeth. We began feeding her mash that seemed to be help her gain weight again. A hard keeper and her age showed a lot this year. She will always be my precious girl and I will never forget her walking almost against my side, as long as I didn't try to touch her.I love you, Ms Ginny. You taught me a lot.

SADLY, THE 3 AMIGOS HAVE CROSSED THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

Shoney passed away in the Spring, 2015. Chick & Java passed away in July, 2015. All 3 were in their mid-20's, old for a llama. We are grateful that they all had the ability to roam free and enjoy their last years among the horses. They all 3 are sorely missed.

March, 2016It was with heavy heart that we said goodbye to Grey Hawk. This gallant boy was 1 of 8 Arab stallions, 4 mares, and several foals seized from horrific conditions. Found deep in the woods Grey stood in a 10x10 pen for over 10 years filled with knee deep mud & muck. The majority of the horses hadn't seen sunshine in over 10 years.

Grey was gelded and fostered before being transferred to our sanctuary, where he was slowly rehabilitated. He had some significant atrophy of his hind muscles and moving, at first was difficult. But, he was adopted by a small band of wild horses and soon was moving freely through his 10 acre pasture. However, a cute Quarter Horse mare (Windy) and her boys (Charlie & Eddie) wanted him more, so he joined up with them and lived side by side, grazing and roaming together for the next 5 years. Unfortunately, at almost 30 years old, his body began to give up despite all our efforts to keep him going. Today he runs green fields with the others we have had to say goodbye to. He left a huge hole in our hearts, but we couldn't be happier for him.